On Tuesday evening, Hillary Clinton appeared via satellite link to the Democratic National Convention to accept the party’s nomination. In doing so, she broke through the glass ceiling (digitally, in this case) to become the first woman nominated for the presidency by a major political party.
This was a big deal, folks. A really big deal.
It was the type of event that should have been covered by major newspapers across the country. You would expect to see this on the front page of every newspaper in America this morning.
And it was.
There was just one BIG problem.
I’m sorry, but did we just nominate Bill again?
@patkiernan pic.twitter.com/i3NNQBRJVS
— Amber Kanwar (@amberkanwar) July 27, 2016
Wait a second … Bernie?
The New York Times took a slightly different tack, highlighting a picture of her supporters in the crowd. At least it’s safe to say that there are probably more people of color in that photo than were in total attendance at the RNC.
The other major Chicago paper, the Sun Times, decided to run a decades-old picture of Clinton. You know, when she was young like women should be, right?
The Los Angeles Daily News went with a recent photo. That’s fair. She wasn’t actually on the convention stage, and newspapers do have print deadlines. Los Angeles Daily News, you get a B+. OK, an A-. Same to all the smaller papers who went with this one.
Kudos, however, to the national newspaper USA Today, which posted a photo of the moment, showing Clinton on the Jumbotron as she accepted the nomination. THIS is what we should have seen on front pages across the nation. Granted, some might see it as a little Orwellian, but I believe it was the best representation that could be done, given that she wasn’t physically there.
It’s impossible to look at this line-up of papers and not see the blatant sexism at work here. Rather than showcase the WOMAN who just snagged a major party’s nomination, who is now closer to the Oval Office than any woman has ever been in the history of this country, it was her husband who was put front and center.
Twitter eviscerated the newspapers, and the excuses ran rampant. Some papers, such as The Wall Street Journal, re-ran the story in a later edition with a picture of Hillary Clinton. But there are many, MANY pictures of Clinton available that could have been used, rather than splashing a man’s face all over a page to celebrate a woman’s achievement.
Featured image is a screengrab from the video of Clinton’s DNC speech.
